Automotive engineering disseration ideas

Kenai said:
I would hope he's aiming to be an engineer if he's doing an engineering degree :p

I think with a bachelors level dissertation what you want to be doing is taking something existing, that interests you and you understand that you can write a considerable amount about technically and gives you opportunity to explore some improvements/optimisations/alternative uses etc.

For example, with recovering energy from braking, you can write about how it works, the benefits it brings and then go on to explore effectiveness of different front/rear bias setups to find a theoretical optimal balance.

You definitely want to being exploring something new in one fashion or another, just be careful not to over egg it. The difficulty you face in automotive is the fact it's currently having a lot of money thrown at it and so many ideas are already being explored.

You could potentially write to a few company R&D sectors and ask if they have any topic suggestions? An industrial link up could prove very beneficial and open up a useful door come graduation. IIRC I had a couple of months into the new term before nailing down my topic, so if you were to fire off correspondence now you'd have a bit of time. I would imagine this road would lead you to things more like improving airflow into an engine by CFD analysis of various valve and port designs for example, much more nitty gritty rather than over arching general topics.

Edit - Just as a rough reference, the 'structure' of my bachelors engineering dissertation was to identify a problem initially, that meant I could conduct a lit review of the general topic area and theories behind it, before analysing in depth what the problem was and why it occurred (relating back to what i'd discovered in the lit review stage). From there I could then propose solutions (some based on what i'd learned from lit review, some my own thinking), test and analyse them before finishing up with a conclusion and recommendation to resolve the originally identified problem.
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I am aiming to be an engineer yes :P Automotive devolopment is where I want to be, thanks for the advice I like the kers type idea's but I think I should stick with engines as I need to be doing something I'm really interested in to keep me properly motivated at it, you said your structure was to identify a problem? Would you advise this as a way of structing a dissertation, I could try identiy a problem in the hybird technolgy i'm sure there's many.

Nomisf said:
I was going to mention this, like the oil contamination detection on helicopter gearboxes etc.

Here are a few things that came to mind, probably all wrong.

- Lean Burn something something
- Wideband / EGT for economy
- Those active grill flaps / aero on new fords (and old mitsu 3000GT :) )
- Variable lenght intakes/intake voume & geo

All things that could be interesting to research/attempt to improve!
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Hi, thanks for the idea's I quite like the sound of variable length intakes could be a lot to talk about and a lot of calculations to play with I'll try do some reseach on this.

lordrobs said:
I'm a bit of a dunce when it comes to engines (my degree is in electronic engineering) but in your shoes I'd be tempted to look at the inefficiencies and areas of energy loss within the internal combustion engine and see if there is an area you can focus on to improve this energy loss.

Vague as hell but as I say, not my area of expertise :p

As has been said, trying to re-invent the wheel isn't a good idea. For my one I took the idea of active noise control using a Lotus prototype as inspiration. I then simplified this into an after market retrofit to reduce low frequency tyre roar.

Best of luck with it!
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Thanks for the advice, I did electronics at A level so got quite an interest, i've heard about active noise control, in a lotus it could be a good way of keeping the noise down instead of installing heavy soundeading material its a good idea.
 
DaveyD said:
Hybrids certainly would be something you'll be able to get stuck in to, but now there is such a huge variation in the technologies, you might get overwhelmed with it a little.

I work in hybrid performance/economy.

Perhaps as you're in to engines, try to concentrate on looking to to how to take advantage of the most efficient points of an engine.

Hybrids are a valid choice if used in the right situation, they're also necessary as a means to develop the technology further that will then feed in to better electric cars and range extended cars that rely less and less on combustion.
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Sorry I missed your post thanks for advice, it sounds like an interesting job! I was thinking i could compare the different tyres of hybrid like Toyotas direct drive with a motor and Vauxhalls generator and motor setup to see which makes the most efficiant use of an engine.
 
Here's an idea.
Range extenders for hybrids. There's a variety of different options been brought to the table, e.g.
-standard petrol or diesel engine
- Atkinson cycle engines
- Small capacity single speed engines (IIRC Lotus developed one)
- The Jag idea of a small jet turbine
Each one the above will have pros, cons and compromises on areas like effeciency, cost, size, weight, longevity etc.
What about a piece of investigation into what those pros and cons are, such that you could create a single reference document for manufacturers to chose what's best for their car.
 
Do something you can get your teeth into and do some predictions, some CAE and actual physical test. The deviations and correlation analysis is the only way you will discover stuff and avoid doing a Wikipedia regurgitation.

I did mine on exhaust manifold design, basic calcs, Ricardo WAVE and real test data. Plenty of stuff to churn through and discuss!
 
The stuff you are interested in pursuing is going to limit you in terms of the publicly available material to base your dissertation upon. Ideally you would be working with /sponsored by a vehicle manufacturer or OEM, but I understand that only a limited number of such places would be available each year.
I work in the auto industry for one of the biggest OEMs, but I work in the Infotainment division so my visibility of the engine/drive train sector is limited. There are many current [buzzword]challenges[/buzzword] in terms of integrating consumer devices/technologies into the vehicle systems, and this is a great area for a dissertation, but with your focus on engines then it probably isn't your cup of tea.
 
Hybrid... Hmmm.

Small, efficient petrol engine running at optimum power/consumption point, with a generator attached to charge a couple of batteries/large capacitors, which then power one or two damn great electric motors in the rear.

See Lotus Evora 414e type of thing. *I still think that Lotus should biuld the damn thing.. I'd consider buying one.* Or even the revolutionary Hammerhead Eagle i-Thrust... :D
 
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andythelandy said:
Sorry I missed your post thanks for advice, it sounds like an interesting job! I was thinking i could compare the different tyres of hybrid like Toyotas direct drive with a motor and Vauxhalls generator and motor setup to see which makes the most efficiant use of an engine.
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Drop me a mail (in trust) if you want any specific info I might be able to help with.

As people have noted already, there are so many different types of hybrid applications, but the big thing that it always comes down to in the end is cost.

Perhaps investigations in to cheap or simple solutions for hybrid systems that don't follow the normal big battery format.

For example, Peugeot have a hybrid concept that uses compressed air rather than expensive heavy high voltage batteries.
 
No formula student opportunities?

Mine was on engine management. Also installed the ECU and mapped it on our Formula student car. Good to show applied knowledge rather than just theory.
 
The use of super capacitors vs batteries.

Formula student.

Electric motor retrofitting to the non driven wheels.
 
Sort of reviving this thread....

I'm in the same position as the OP this year!

I'm trying to find something relevant to current technologies. The problem is as people have already said, it needs to be practical in terms of actually testing the theory.

I'm really stumped! Any more ideas anyone?
 
Show how catalytic converters have made vehicle emissions worse by making the engine less efficient and stifling lean burn technology!!
 
Simon said:
How do you mean 'worse'?
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Lean burn engines CO emission levels are significantly decreased and HC emission levels become lower for the same A/F ratio
Although NOx emissions sadly increase. :(
That is easily fixed by redesigning what the cat does/how it works
 
dutchboy said:
Sort of reviving this thread....

I'm in the same position as the OP this year!

I'm trying to find something relevant to current technologies. The problem is as people have already said, it needs to be practical in terms of actually testing the theory.

I'm really stumped! Any more ideas anyone?
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Welcome to the forum!

If I was doing a doing a dissertation in automotive, with a passion for technology (which I do have) I would do something around automation or "drive by wire" tech. I've done research into "drive by wireless" (from a security perspective) in the past so I would probably continue that, looking at the reliability of different designs, the maximum safe latency of the system etc...
Proper nerdy
 
Fuzz said:
Lean burn engines CO emission levels are significantly decreased and HC emission levels become lower for the same A/F ratio
Although NOx emissions sadly increase. :(
That is easily fixed by redesigning what the cat does/how it works
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I still dont understand.

Cats reduce CO and HC by making CO2 and water. Therefore reduce harmful emissions.
 
In the end I did a dissertation on a simulation of a mild hybrid system for my own car. This included driving a urban drive cycle with data logging and then basically using calculations to see what fuel saving gains if any could be got from installing a mild hybrid syatem with regenerative braking. Also I specified the size of the motor and energy storage system.

It was a fascinating dissertation to do and I just got scrapped a first in the module. I also just started a graduate job today so don't let people tell you you can't get a job after university. Good luck :)
 
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